overturn
/ˌəʊvə(ɹ)ˈtɜː(ɹ)n/
overturn verb: to turn over, capsize or upset.
Verb
overturn (third-person singular simple present overturns, present participle overturning, simple past and past participle overturned)
- To turn over, capsize or upset.
- About three or four minutes later still an express freight on the up main line ran into the wreckage at about 35 m.p.h. Its engine also overturned and 15 more wagons were added to the mounting pile of wreckage.1962 October, “Talking of Trains: The collisions at Connington”, in Modern Railways, page 232
- We also found that the only emergency egress from the tram was by smashing the front or rear windscreens, and that emergency lighting had failed when the tram overturned.2021 December 29, Dominique Louis, “Causal analysis: crashworthiness at Sandilands”, in RAIL, number 947, page 33
- Synonyms:
- tip over
- To overthrow or destroy.
- To reverse (a decision); to overrule or rescind.
- In a report for the Sun on Sunday, Barak claimed that Andrew is consulting lawyers about overturning that settlement.2023 January 22, Matthew Weaver, “Ghislaine Maxwell calls Prince Andrew photo with Virginia Giuffre ‘a fake’”, in The Guardian
- Harvey was rightfully convicted. It’s unfortunate that the court has overturned his conviction. As a survivor, I am beyond disappointed.2024 April 27, Maya Yang, quoting Rosanna Arquette, “Disgraced former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein hospitalized”, in The Observer, →ISSN
- To diminish the significance of a previous defeat by winning; to make a comeback from.
- Villa spent most of the second period probing from wide areas and had a succession of corners but despite their profligacy they will be glad to overturn the 6-0 hammering they suffered at St James' Park in August following former boss Martin O'Neill's departure2011 April 10, Alistair Magowan, “Aston Villa 1 - 0 Newcastle”, in BBC Sport
- There were so many heroes for Leicester on an evening when they played with tremendous courage and belief to overturn the 2-1 deficit from the first leg, yet it was hard to look beyond Kasper Schmeichel for the game’s outstanding performer.2017 March 14, Stuart James, “Leicester stun Sevilla to reach last eight after Kasper Schmeichel save”, in the Guardian
- To undergo a limnic eruption, where dissolved gas suddenly erupts from the depths.
Noun
overturn (plural overturns)
- A turning over or upside-down; inversion.
- The overturning or overthrow of some institution or state of affairs; ruin.
overturn meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
overturn in Hindi
- to overturn, upset
- औंधाना aundhānā
overturn in Tamil
- தடம்புரண்ட
overturn in Marathi
- to overturn, capsize
- कलंडणे kalaṇḍaṇe
overturn in Urdu
- درہم برہم کرنا, پلٹنا
More languagesFewer languages
- overturn in Bengali
- উল্টানো, বিপর্যস্ত, উৎখাত, ধ্বংস করা
- overturn in Malayalam
- കീഴ്മേലായി മറിയുക, കമിഴുക, കവിഴുക, കമരുക
- overturn in Kannada
- ಕೆಳಗೆ ಬೀಳಿಸು, ಬುಡಮೇಲು ಮಾಡು, ಉರುಳಿಸು, ಪದಚ್ಯುತಿಗೊಳಿಸು
- overturn in Thai
- คว่ำ kwâm
Examples of overturn in a sentence
- "collision and upset": impact with another object or an overturn for whatever reason.
- A dust devil may look harmless, but a large one can overturn a car.
- The road is blocked by an overturned truck, and cars can't pass through.
Synonyms of overturn
Forms of overturn
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | overturns |
| present participle | overturning |
| past participle | overturned |
| past | overturned |
| Noun | |
| plural | overturns |
Origin of overturn
From Middle English overturnen, equivalent to over- + turn. Compare also Middle English overterven (“to overturn”), see terve.
Words formed from overturn
Questions about overturn
- What does overturn mean?
- Overturn means to turn over, capsize or upset.
- What is overturn in Hindi?
- Overturn in Hindi is औंधाना (aundhānā). See Overturn meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is overturn?
- Overturn can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce overturn?
- Overturn is pronounced /ˌəʊvə(ɹ)ˈtɜː(ɹ)n/.
- What is the past tense of overturn?
- The past tense of overturn is overturned.
Words near overturn in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: overturn (page history and authors); औंधाना (Hindi) (page history and authors); overturn (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); कलंडणे (Marathi) (page history and authors); overturn (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); overturn (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); overturn (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); overturn (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-overturn.wav.
Cite this entry: “overturn.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/overturn. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.